Inside Voice
by BilingualBird
Summary: Luke Skywalker insisted on spending seven more days on his island for reasons Rey couldn't explain, though she would say he was stalling, if Jedi Masters would do something like that. AKA: Rey has to deal with so much and has a few internal breakdowns, but somehow she makes it out okay.
After the initial rush of adrenaline and the unbelieving sense of triumph from simply surviving Kylo Ren wore off, Rey was left sitting alone in the pilot's seat of the Millennium Falcon while Chewbacca stayed in the back to stabilize Finn.

And wasn't that a kick in the stomach. Rey angrily flipped a series of switches to her left, that for all of her new supposed ability with the Force, she couldn't even help fix Finn. That years of living alone had not caused her to learn how to heal, but to instead learn how to not get burned.

When the Falcon finally landed and Finn was carted off to the med bay, Rey could barely walk. Life alone in Jakku didn't prepare her for this. For the people, for the laughter, for actually caring about someone who wasn't an old memory. The only thing that kept her from jumping back into the Falcon and heading to some distant sandy Outer Rim planet was General Organa.

The older woman just stood there in from of the Falcon's ramp, before the crowd, waiting for her husband to saunter down the ramp like he had a hundred other times in the past. Quick one liners shooting in both directions and any anger forgotten in the moment.

Rey slowly stopped in front of her, suddenly feeling more tired than before, because what does someone say to a woman who's lost it all?

General Organa pulled Rey in for a hug, and Rey figured maybe you don't say anything.

It took three days before Finn was declared out of immediate danger. Rey spent almost every possible second by his side, only leaving when the medical droids or doctors forced her out for one of a multitude of surgeries. Kylo Ren's lightsaber had ruined most of Finn's right shoulder, and nearly torn his spinal cord in half. Droids and doctors alike were hopeful of a full recovery, but Rey is all too aware that things might not go as planned.

Things here might be a little less cut throat than in Jakku, but reality was still the same. Expect the worst and you will always be pleased when it doesn't.

Poe had come by more than a few times, he practically lived in the hallway outside of Finn's room. At first he hadn't even left to shower, but eventually some members of Poe's squad had showed up looking for him and ended up making it their mission to get both Rey and Poe up and about, or at least showered and fed.

Snap had disappeared down a hallway practically dragging a scruffy and complaining Poe, while Rey had been introduced to a cute pilot named Jessica who had almost shoved a full cake down Rey's throat when she had found out that 'cake' wasn't a thing in Jakku.

Rey had refrained from mentioning that most foods other than ration packs weren't 'a thing' in Jakku. The cake ordeal had been scary enough. The aftermath in which Jes had practically climbed in the shower with Rey to try and wash the cake off had been slightly more memorable, and more welcome.

But even with meeting new people, all halls ended up leading back to medical.

Finn's laid out on a bed in a private room, and medical is finally beginning to allow in visitors without too much of a huff. Rey sits in a sturdy metal chair next to his bed, silently thinking about how many rations the simple metal chair would be worth back home before realizing Jakku isn't home anymore, maybe it never was, and she's got no one her and Finn just wa—

The door creaks open slowly, pulling her out of her thoughts as a familiar looking man in the orange flight suit poked his head through the door frame.

"Hey Poe, no changes since yesterday but," Rey looked down at Finn's still body "I think he's getting better."

Poe shut the door quietly behind him before taking a seat across the bed. "He's got a bit more color on him, lookin less pale."

 _Less like he was when he first arrived, covered in blood and the scent of burnt flesh_

 _Less like when Rey had last leant over him in the snowy forest, with his eyes wide open and unseeing and empty_

The two of them sat in a familiar silence for a few minutes before Rey stood up from her chair. She leant over Finn and whispered her promise, silently whispered for him to be okay, to not worry and that she'd be right back, but please wake up before kissing him softly on the forehead.

Poe was looking at her when she turned to leave.

"He'll worry about you." _I'll worry about you. Jes will worry about you. We all will._

Because you don't spend three days constantly by the same man's side, or many hours before that being regaled with tales of the other without becoming friends. Finn did that to people.

"I'll be back."

"Okay."

Rey walked across the room, and opened the door, stopping halfway out of the room to turn back to Poe.

"Take care of him, Poe."

"I will." And the fierce look on Poe's face reassured her of that. "Now go find Skywalker."

The trip to Luke's hideaway was surprisingly long. Growing up in Jakku meant Rey had never gone higher than 10 feet off the ground before she found BB-8 and her life exploded, literally. None of the flight sims or stories passed around Jakku had ever mentioned that space flight itself, for all that it seemed fast, was really compensating for the, well, the space in space.

The flight to Luke was six days long, and Rey spent every minute she wasn't sleeping, eating or piloting, deep in the bowels of the ship familiarizing herself with the ins and outs and little (or large) quirks of the infamous Millennium Falcon. A beautiful ship that needed lot of minor repairs, which Rey was happy to provide if only to keep herself distracted from the lightsaber hidden away in her bag.

Because what if Luke wouldn't return, what if he wouldn't help the Resistance, what if he wasn't there, what if he was de—

And suddenly Chewie was calling for her to help land the Falcon because they had arrived.

The climb up the mountain trail was the best and worst of her life. She'd never seen so much green before and the higher she got the more water she could see on the horizon. But the higher she climbed the less likely it seemed that she would ever find Luke, that he was even here in the first place, and that was all she could think about until suddenly he was in front of her.

Rey deftly opened her bag and pulled the lightsaber out, hand shaking as she held it out to the cloaked figure. A mantra of _pleasepleasebeLukecomebackhelphelpFinnFinnPoeGeneralOrganaplease_ on repeat through her head.

The cloaked man turned around and Rey saw Luke Skywalker, legendary hero of the Resistance for the first time as he stared at her. Grey hair swirled around his temples and his eyes were sad like General Organa's had been since Starkiller and they really must be twins because

"Luke Skywalker? Your sister needs you." Rey breathed out sharply. "We all need you."

Luke Skywalker insisted on spending seven more days on his island for reasons Rey couldn't explain, though she would say he was stalling, if Jedi Masters would do something like that. But the delay had had her in a bad mood, especially because Rey had promised to meet of with Jes to try new foods as soon as she got back. The return journey to base was tense and filled with a stilted silence because Chewbacca tried to kill Skywalker at least three times since he'd returned to the Millennium Falcon, and that could put a damper on any trip.

Chewie refused to acknowledge Skywalker beyond threats and clawed gestures, R2D2 whirled around him in a beeping storm, and Rey remained stubbornly as far away from the Wookie on Jedi violence as she could, because Jakku didn't teach her to jump into fights she already knew the outcome of.

Somehow she didn't think this trip was going as Poe had imagined it.

This theme was kept up when they arrived back at the base and General Organa's first order of action was to slap Luke Skywalker full across the face (before pulling him into a hug, but Rey almost didn't think the Resistance members' hearts could deal with the shock).

The crowd gathered to see the famous Luke Skywalker followed him as he made his way into the base with his sister, and Rey was left to make her own way into the med bay.

When she opened the door to Finn's room she was stunned to see Finn awake, propped up on a veritable mountain of pillows with Poe by his side, both of them devouring what looked like the remains of Finn's lunch.

They noticed each other at the same time.

"Rey! You're alright! Poe told me you were but I'm so glad—"

"Finn, this is amazing the doctors said you wouldn't wake up for anoth—"

"Did you find Skywalker? Is he here? Did you run into the First Ord—"

They froze before breaking into laughter. Rey recovered first.

"Finn, how are you doing?" Rey bit her lip. "Last time I was here the medical droids weren't even sure you'd wake up in the next month, but now you're awake and…"

Finn shrugged and pointed at Poe. "He understands it more than me."

"It's great isn't it!" Poe smiled happily. "We got a fresh shipment of bacta, haven't gotten one in months, the stuff is like magic with cell regeneration, Finn will be on his feet in no time!"

Rey reached out and snagged Finn's hand away from where it was spooning fruit into his mouth. She gave it a good squeeze.

"Good, because you really had me scared there, Finn."

Poe nodded, his eyes less joyful than before. "Yeah buddy, you had us all scared."

Finn smiled at Poe and squeezed Rey's hand back. "Skywalker is here now, we have a chance of winning."

"Of course!" Rey nodded. "Though with your history for new acquaintances attacking you, you might want to wait to be introduced to him!"

Later, after Skywalker could walk the base without fear of Chewbacca jumping him, Rey began training in the Force. It came as a rather big surprise when he had offered to train her, but after being nothing for so long who was she to deny a chance like this?

Her days were constantly exhausting and busy, with Skywalker trying to make up for whatever faults he had in his training with Kylo Ren. Constant meditations, Force training sessions and lightsaber duels would have gotten the better of her in days if she hadn't had meals in the mess hall with Finn, Poe and what often seemed like the entire population of pilots.

If she showed up even a few minutes late Poe and Finn's table was basically stacked with friendly pilots eager to converse with the best pilot in the resistance or the ex-storm trooper. It had been annoying at first, when Rey couldn't find a seat, and she had almost given up and walked back to the Falcon when one Poe's squad members flagged her down from a less crowded table.

"Hey Rey!" Jessica called from around her bite of mashed roots. "You can sit with us."

"Yeah," said Snap as he scooted away from Jessica to make room. "Normally the crowd isn't this bad, but you know, hero of Starkiller and legendary ex-storm trooper and all that."

Rey shrugged as she squeezed into the space between Snap and Jes. "I wouldn't know about that, I think they're a little wary of me."

"What? You?" Jes raised her eyebrows. "The fierce scavenger from Jakku who pilots the Millennium Falcon, is best friends with Chewbacca, and single-handedly defeated Kylo Rey the first time ever holding a lightsaber?"

Rey smiled. "It wasn't single-handedly, Finn, Chewie and Han Solo rescued me and you pilots did most of the heavy lifting! I mean, you guys were diving all over the place, with hardly any losses you fought tens of TIE fighters. That flying was absolutely brilliant, every single one of you, I heard from Poe and Finn how amazing you are compared to—"

She cut herself off.

Snap looked a little embarrassed and Jes blushed.

"Um, if you want I can show you my X-Wing sometime," Jes offered. "I heard you were quite the pilot too."

"Oh me?" Rey shrugged. "Before I stole the Falcon with Finn, I'd never even hit the atmosphere over Jakku, I could barely afford my speeder, let alone a starship."

Jes dropped her spoon. "You mean the escape from Jakku was the first time you'd actually flown?"

The other pilots at the table were staring at Rey and she felt her cheeks heat up. "Um, yeah, it's the same concept though—"

Jes nearly fell backward out of her chair in her haste to get up. "No, no it isn't the same concept!" She grabbed Rey's shoulder and gave it an excited shake. "Imagine what you could do if you had training, maybe you'd be better than Poe, oh god, this is amazing!"

Rey couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm. "Um, I don't know, would Poe mind if I tried?"

Jes nearly laughed. "Are you kidding me? He'll probably cry in joy when he finds out, he's always whining about needing another person to share his incredible fame with, it's the perfect opportunity! I'll teach you how to fly next time you have a free hour or two, is that okay?" She suddenly seemed a bit shyer.

"Oh, no, I'd love for you to teach me," Rey grinned, "maybe sometime you'd like to pilot the Falcon? It'd be a fair trade then."

Jes squealed and pulled Rey into a quick hug. "Oh my god, do you not realize how unfair this trade is?" Jes turned a smug smile towards the other pilots, who were looking slightly mutinous. "I'm gonna fly the Falcon, thank you so much!"

Rey patted Jes on the shoulder. "It's no problem, really." Her cheeks felt hot again. "I'd let you fly it anytime, you just have to ask."

Jes looked ready to propose marriage right there.


End file.
